by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

BOSTON -- Shane Victorino's double hit the wall at Fenway Park about the same time Michael Wacha did.

Or maybe just a precious few minutes later - too late for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The broad view of the Boston Red Sox's 6-1 victory to clinch the World Series Wednesday was that the uncanny - or was it miraculous? - things the St. Louis Cardinals did all season just to get to a Game 6 on the night before Halloween finally stopped.

The relentless Red Sox didn't.

"Different guy every night," said Red Sox catcher David Ross. "That's the character of this team."

There it was in microcosm in the third inning with the bases loaded against Cardinals playoff wonder boy Wacha.

Victorino, whose grand slam settled the American League Championship Series, didn't have a hit in this series and had missed the previous game with back issues. He was batting right-handed against the seemingly overpowering right-handed Wacha, having abandoned switch-hitting earlier this year.

His three-run double off Fenway Park's Green Monster broke a scoreless tie, broke the Wacha mystique and Boston broke into its first win-the-Series-at-home party since 1918.

"This organization, as long as I've been here, has been a box full of surprises," said series MVP David Ortiz, who left the last chapter to his teammates as the Cardinals finally stopped pitching to him â?? four walks, three intentional.

The rest of the night was a validation of what this series had become â?? the Red Sox wearing down the opponent as they usually do, eventually forcing their way to victory.

"I knew this was a special group. This team's got a place in history," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "As the season went on the fans caught on."

The Cardinals continued leaving men on base â?? by game's end they were 9-for-43 with runners in scoring position for the series after batting a video-game worthy .330 during the season. As their deficit grew, their waning vigor showed up in an easy ground ball booted, a rundown totally mishandled, the ultimate sagging shoulders of a team that finally realizes how weary it is.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox kept proving their .205 series batting average â?? 13 points worse than the Cardinals â?? entering the game didn't matter much. Boston led the majors in runs this season but set a post-season record for striking out.

When they hit, even those struggling most, it mattered.

"When we're struggling we believe we're going to do something that night," said first baseman Mike Napoli, who revealed that shortstop Stephen Drew (one infield single in the first five games) predicted during batting practice he'd hit a home run Wednesday.

Drew, whose most significant offensive contribution had been a walk preceding Ross' game-winning double in Game 5, did just that against Wacha in the fourth.

Left fielder Jonny Gomes got his second hit of the series Wednesday â?? the other one was a game-deciding three-run homer in Game 4.

But Gomes also was hit by a pitch Wednesday. Take the whole scenario down one more level to see how that matters.

Victorino batted next with the bases loaded and two outs.

Wacha's first pitch to him was an inside curve â?? and Victorino did his trademark turn of the back as he hangs precariously close to the plate. That pitch didn't hit him â?? as they often do â?? but considering his reputation, the previous hit batter and the loaded bases â?¦

Wacha's next three pitches were fastballs and Victorino changed the game and for all intents clinched the series on the third one.

What's more, the fastballs were 93 mph, several ticks down from the velocity Wacha had been using to dominate the best baseball's playoff teams had to offer.

The long first pro season? The situation to which the 21-year-old Wacha seemed impervious to? Or maybe it was just the law of averages like so much that settled this series.

"The game is going to catch up to everybody," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Today was one of those days he got a little more plate on a few pitches."

The Cardinals didn't come close to capitalizing on what chances they had, especially against a very vulnerable Boston starter John Lackey in the first two innings.

They hit a half-dozen balls hard in those innings but left runners on second and third in the second after Allen Craig and Yadier Molina started the inning with singles.

The hitters struggling for St. Louis didn't come up with the clutch hit. Matt Adams and David Freese â?? he of the 2011 World Series heroics â?? both hit under .200 in this series and both got two chances with runners in scoring position Wednesday.

The turning point for Lackey was a swinging third strike to Jon Jay to end the second â?? on a curveball that Lackey had been struggling with.

Lackey came back with a five-pitch third inning and settled in for the second World Series-clinching victory of his career â?? he won Game 7 for the 2002 Angels â?? and became the first to start and win a clincher for two franchises.

By the seventh, the fans who had made Lackey a whipping boy for his lack of production before this season, were chanting his name and he responded with a tip of the cap as he left after finally surrendering a run.

"His turnaround mirrors that of this organization," Farrell said. "The ovation he got coming off the mound, I think people have seen the turnaround in him."

And, fittingly, Junichi Tazawa ended the Cardinals' last real hope by getting Craig to ground out with the bases loaded.